


Negative Impact

by LucindaAM



Series: My Guilty Pleasure One-Shots [7]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hypothesis is that Steve doesn't like it when Tony and you spend time together, It's not what Tony thinks though, Light Swearing, No Smut, Steve is a mother-hen, Tony's testing a hypothesis, angst if you squint, not entirely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25266646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucindaAM/pseuds/LucindaAM
Summary: Steve needs to be working. At work, at home, it doesn't matter. So, it was only a matter of time before he took you on as his next project. The thing is, Steve likes you. You remind him of the little sister he never had. And as such, he can't stand to sit around watching Tony corrupt you with his unhealthy habits.The only thing is, some new habits die hard and if we're being honest . . . this is one war Steve lost before he'd even begun.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Reader, Tony Stark/Reader
Series: My Guilty Pleasure One-Shots [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997734
Comments: 8
Kudos: 76





	Negative Impact

Tony liked to think that usually, he was the smartest person in the room. The only exceptions were you or MAYBE Bruce. So when a certain Star-Spangled Captain started doing his damndest to keep you away from Tony; Tony got suspicious.

But like any good scientist, Tony knew he needed hard evidence. So, he decided to test his hypothesis.

The first time he tested it, you were in the common room, laughing with Steve over one of his old war stories.

“Hey Cap’, Honey.” Tony greeted, stopping to kiss you on the head as he walked towards the kitchen for yet another cup of coffee.

Did Tony’s eyes deceive him? Or was Steve watching him warily?

“Hi, baby.” You smiled at Tony. “What’s got you out of the lab this early?”

Tony held up the coffee pot and you scoffed. “Oh, of course. What else?”

Tony chuckled.

You pushed yourself off the couch and moved towards him. “Well, if you’re pouring, would you pour me one? I’ve only had three today and I have at least seven hours of reports to get through.”

Tony pulled another mug out of the cupboard before a grunt behind him interrupted.

“Three cups? Don’t you think that’s a lot of coffee?”

You and Tony turned to see Steve standing beside the kitchen island. His arms were crossed over his chest and he had his patented ‘I’m righteously disappointed in you’ scowl on. Tony had to quickly turn back to the pot of coffee before his smile could give him away.

You looked at Steve, confused. “I mean . . . normally I have a lot more . . .” You started. Tony got his expression under control as he handed you your mug, now filled with steaming coffee. You took it and glanced at it, brow furrowed.

“It’s funny.” You continued. “I didn’t use to be a big coffee drinker. I preferred tea. But then I started dating Tony here . . .” You chuckled. “I guess you could say he converted me.”

Steve’s expression grew darker and darker as you finished your short story before he sent a murderous glare Tony’s direction. It was so quick, Tony nearly missed it.

Quick as a whip, Steve’s hand shot out, stealing your coffee from you and dumping it down the sink.

“Hey!” You exclaimed.

“That’s expensive.” Tony grumbled.

Steve shot you both a look before he marched out of the room. “Go back to tea! It’s healthier!”

You and Tony exchanged a glance before Tony poured you another cup from the full coffee pot.

“He does know there’s more where that came from, right?” Tony snarked.

You laughed. “Well if he doesn’t, don’t tell him. I don’t want to have to leave the tower every couple of hours to get my fix.”

Tony pressed a smoldering kiss to your lips before he headed back down to the lab. “Wouldn’t dream of it!”

The second time Tony had the opportunity to test his hypothesis was in the lab of all places. Though the True-Blue-Through-And-Through hero didn’t often venture to the R&D portion of the tower, he’d had to this time in order to look over the modifications you and Tony had been busy making on his suit and shield.

It was around three in the morning when Steve finally found time to make it down to the lab.

“Steve!” You called as you spotted the brooding soldier standing in the doorway with a scowl plastered on his face.

Tony leaned back in his chair and watched to see if his theory was correct.

Steve made a big show of checking his watch before he responded to you. “What are you still doing up?” He asked, shooting a barely disguised glare in Tony’s direction.

Tony resisted the urge to smirk outright, though his lip did twist up.

You glanced at the clock on the wall and shrugged a shoulder. “I guess we just got caught up in this latest project.” You paused and shot a guilty smile at Tony. “I guess that’s been happening more and more lately.”

Tony winked at you. “Well I happen to LOVE staying up late with you.” He murmured suggestively. You blushed pink. Steve turned an angry red. Tony hadn’t thought it was possible, but Steve somehow managed to look even MORE disapproving.

“You should really get some rest.” He said, looking at you more than at Tony.

You shrugged a shoulder. “Sorry, Cap’. Don’t think I could now even if I wanted to. I’m too wired up.”

Steve squinted at you. “Did you drink more coffee?”

You froze like a deer caught in the headlights. “Uh . . . no?”

Tony reached a hand up to stroke his face as he desperately tried not to laugh. You were such a bad liar.

Steve scoffed as he stalked out of the room. “I’m gonna DESTROY that machine!” He yelled.

You stood still in the lab for a moment before you chased after him. “Wait! No! Don’t do that! Come back! Your upgrades! The upgrades! Come look at the upgrades! Leave the innocent coffee machine alone!!!”

Tony chuckled to himself as your shouts faded down the hallway. He turned back to his screens. “JARVIS, you catch all that?” He asked absently.

“Yes, sir. It does appear like your hypothesis is proving correct.”

Tony chuckled and spun in his chair, thinking it over. “Well, it’s certainly interesting.” He said finally, moving back to his work. A few minutes later you came slumping back into the lab.

“Don’t tell me Captain Righteousness actually destroyed personal property.” Tony laughed looking at your crestfallen expression.

“Worse. He tired to USE it. Said he wanted to know what all the fuss was about. It’s never going to work right again.”

Tony chuckled. “JARVIS? Can you get a rush order out for a new coffee maker?” He asked. You shot him a winning smile and his heart swelled. He stood up and moved towards you. “Actually, J, make it a couple dozen. Always better to be prepared.”

You leaned up and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. “My hero.” You murmured against his lips.

Tony hummed. “Mmm. I like the sound of that.” He pulled you to your feet and twirled you. “How about we go celebrate another problem solved?” He dipped you low and pressed a steamy kiss to your lips.

By the time he broke away and pulled you back to your feet, you were breathless. “Sounds good to me, hero.” You said as Tony smirked and pulled you from the lab.

Steve would be disappointed, but it didn’t look like you were about to get any sleep tonight.

The final piece of evidence came a few months later. You and Steve had been called out on a particularly challenging mission. Tony hadn’t wanted you to go, but he had been swamped with Stark Industries press conferences and board meetings in preparation to launch the new reactor powered home security system his people had spent the last year perfecting. As a result, he couldn’t take your place.

You’d been gone almost a month with little in the way of communication so when JARVIS said you were almost home, Tony had dropped everything and had raced to the hanger bay. He’d been expecting a romantic reunion between the two of you. He hadn’t expected you to be yelling at Steve as the quinjet doors opened or for you to stomp past him on your way to your rooms without even a word of greeting.

“Just drop it Steve! I’m fine! Arrgh!” You’d yelled.

Steve shot Tony a disgusted look and finally Tony felt like he had enough. When Steve moved to stomp past him, Tony shot an arm out.

“What the hell is your problem, Rogers? You’ve been giving me that stink eye for months now whenever she and I are in the same room together and don’t think I haven’t noticed you doing your best to separate us whenever possible.” Tony demanded.

Steve shook of Tony’s hold but didn’t make another move towards the door. He shook his head. “What’s my problem?” He parroted. “What’s your problem?” Steve jammed a finger against Tony’s chest. Tony stumbled back a step. He recovered and narrowed his eyes at the soldier as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Steve and Tony glared at each other, neither of them moving or even blinking as they waited for the other one to cave first.

Finally, Steve sighed. The tension bled out of his shoulders as he glanced at the ground.

“She’s a good kid, Stark.” He said.

Tony scoffed. “You don’t think I know that? And she’s not a kid, Rogers. She's a grown woman.”

Steve rolled his eyes but didn’t refute it. For another moment the two of them sat in awkward silence before Tony spoke again.

“So, what’s really the issue?”

Steve glanced at him. “You’re . . . a bad influence.” He finally said, a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

Tony stared at the soldier. For a long minute, he stood frozen in shock. He’d had a lot of theories bouncing around his head as to the motivation Steve had in trying to separate the you two. Steve playing Mother-Hen was never one of them.

Tony burst out laughing.

Steve glared. “It’s not funny, Tony.”

“Oh, Cap’.” Tony started, wiping tears from his eyes. “If you only knew what had been floating through my head for the past few months, you’d think it was funny too. So . . . I’m a bad influence, huh?”

Steve’s jaw ticked as he nodded. He was once again standing defensively.

“How so?” Tony asked, amusement still pouring off him in waves.

“I really have to spell it out for you, Stark?” Steve asked.

Tony waved a hand in front of himself encouragingly. “Spell it out for me. Simple terms. Pretend I’m dumb.”

“She’s suddenly addicted to coffee. She’s up till all hours of the night and she refuses to talk to anyone about her problems. Sound like someone else you know?”

Tony was about to crack a joke when his attention snagged on something. “Won’t talk to anyone about her problems? What problems?”

Steve shook his head. “She’s got PTSD or survivors guilt or who knows what else. It affected her on the mission and it’s gonna keep affecting her until she talks to someone about it.”

Tony rubbed his chin as he thought it over. He hadn’t noticed anything . . . then again, you weren’t exactly one to confront your problems unless they confronted you.

He turned to follow your path up to the penthouse.

“Where are you goin’?” Steve called.

“To get her to talk!” Tony called back. He paused for a moment in the doorway and glanced back at the soldier. “Listen, Steve. We all have our problems. I know you think I’ve been corrupting her, but let me promise you, she doesn’t do anything she doesn't want to do. I have about as much influence over her as you do. She doesn’t respond well to being told what to do. She’ll respond much better to you being her friend than to you trying to mother her.”

Steve pondered over Tony’s words for a brief moment before he gave Tony a curt nod.

Tony recognized that was all he was going to get for now so he wasted no time in turning back around and going after you.

You were sitting in the middle of the bed by the time he got up to the penthouse. Your hair was wet, dripping water onto your pajamas. Your clothes were strewn from the elevator doors all the way to the bathroom. Your entire body was tensed in a way that screamed that you didn’t want to talk about it.

Contrary to a certain super-soldier's opinion, you and Tony were two of the most open people on the team. At least when it came to one another. There was very little Tony didn’t know about you which is why it was such a surprise to hear you were suffering with demons of your own. Still, in the time you’d been together, Tony had learned to read you like a book. Which meant that right now, he knew you needed a distraction, not any more prying questions. So, he silently climbed onto the bed and slid in behind you, pressing his back to the headboard. He pulled at your hips until you slid flush with him and one of his arms wrapped around your waist as another one started playing with your hair.

“You’ll never BELIEVE what hypothesis I just proved.” He began.

As you relaxed against him, he couldn’t help but smile at the picture of domestic bliss the two of you created together. Steve might think that Tony was a bad influence on you. But Tony knew better. If anything it was you who was a good influence on him. And he loved the chances you’d brought to his life more than anything else in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Tony, Tony, Tony. Corrupting innocents with your wicked ways. Good thing Steve is on the case! XD


End file.
